Consumer and retail products are often packed and shipped directly to consumers or retailers using conventional shipping boxes. The shipping boxes typically include protective packing material in the shipping box to protect the products against shipping and handling hazards. The protective packing material is often crumpled paper, liners, plastic air pillows, bubble-wrap, Styrofoam, compressible foam “peanuts,” or other dunnage. The dunnage can effectively immobilize the products within the shipping box and can absorb external loads to protect the products. The dunnage, however, can be difficult to handle and labor-intensive when packing a box, thereby adding to the cost of shipping the products. The dunnage also results in excessive waste material that can be messy, bothersome, and difficult to dispose of after the products are removed from the shipping box.
Other conventional packaging systems include specially shaped restraints designed to immobilize the product within the shipping box. The specially shaped restraints can be created by molding or pre-forming the restraint structure so as to fully or partially enclose the product when packed. These restraints, however, are specially shaped to correspond to the particular products, so that each specially shaped restraint is limited to use with only products of certain shapes and sizes. Creating specially shaped restraints for large numbers of consumer products having different shapes could be cost-prohibitive. In addition, the packaging of products in such specially shaped restraints can be very labor-intensive, thereby adding to the cost of shipping.
Another approach to protecting products during shipping is known as suspension packing. An object to be shipped is suspended between two sheets of plastic film material in a face-to-face relationship. The sheets are usually attached to frames that fit securely within a box of a selected size. Accordingly, the product does not contact any substantially rigid surfaces within the box and is protected from physical shock. Examples of suspension packing systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,852,743; 4,923,065; 5,071,009; 5,388,701; 5,287,968; and 5,678,695.
Other packaging systems immobilize a product on a frame structure that fits within the shipping box. The frames are shaped and sized to engage the top, bottom, and sides of the shipping box, so there is a minimum amount of movement of the frame within the shipping box. Examples of frame packing systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,678,695; 5,893,462; 6,010,006; 6,148,590; and 6,148,591. The suspension packing systems and frame packing systems can be effective at protecting the products being shipped, although the systems can be fairly complex, and expensive. The systems can also be labor-intensive, particularly when shipping products of all shapes and sizes in large volumes and in multiple shipping boxes of different sizes. Accordingly, there is a need for an easy, inexpensive packing and shipping system that securely immobilizes and protects the products and that minimizes the amount of waste that must be disposed of by the recipient.